Just Watch
by GooglyMooglies
Summary: ZoroxNami. Drawn together by a need to experience that red, raw heat they both desire, what begins as a meaningless act quickly spirals out of control.
1. Watching

**Greetings and Salutations, everyone! Great googly mooglies! It's GooglyMooglies!**

**Now, don't get me wrong, I'm actually not that big a fan of ZoNa, and anything with Zoro in it has to have at least just a little angst as he tries to be all emotionally distant and such, because that's just how he is. Nami can be sweet and emotional when she wants, but she can be a pretty cold bitch herself as well... going on this thought and a sudden need to write SOMETHING cuz of all the fanfics I've been reading lately, an idea popped into my head about how I could make it work... barely... and I'd still get the twisted joy of putting them through some emotional trauma +evil grin+**

**But that's not til later.**

**For now, the first chapter!**

**No, I own nothing.**

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_169... 170… 171… 172… 17—_

And there it was again: that nagging, invasive feeling that let him know he was being watched. He paused at the top of his next push-up (left hand, number 173) and looked over his shoulder. He saw no one, save for Nami, lounging on a lawn chair, reading. Zoro scowled at the woman. So brazenly showing off her body like that… Ugh. Had she no shame? He rolled his eyes for asking such a question. She was Nami. Nami, so blatantly using that pathetic excuse for a man of a cook. Nami, outrageously charging her own crewmembers for simple services, favors, and offenses. He could have no respect for anyone that could do such things, and the cook taking it all and begging for more made him sick. Zoro continued to scowl at her, his annoyance even now bubbling beneath his unchanging expression…

Sunglasses. The fact that he couldn't see her eyes only made her appear more demon-like.

His lip twitched, barely smirking. Women did not interest him in the slightest emotionally, and only to a minimal amount sexually; he had much more important things to concentrate on. He never pushed it, but allowed them to come to him if they so wished it, accepting most physical advances with smug disdain and ignoring any that smelled as though they could carry some emotional attachment. The last thing he needed was a heartsick woman (or women) pining for him, or even (he shuddered) pursuing him. Not that Zoro was gay or anything; he liked women, true, but they were amenities, not necessities. He could live without them. Not that he didn't occasionally allow himself a survey of any goods that were around for observation. Even more rarely would he allow himself a quick imagining of a scenario. (He refused to call them fantasies. Fantasies were girly, magical, happy, unattainable daydreams. Girly, magical, and unattainable were not words Zoro used to describe anything concerning himself. And these imaginings of his were far from happy: they were filled with lust, pride, domination, satisfaction… nothing so emotionally waterlogged as happiness or love.) Now he allowed himself such a wandering of his mind, and, still scowling, slowly let his eyes begin to wander down the reclining form of the woman. True, she was beautiful; there could be no denying the fact. Hair blazing in the sun, sharp, intelligent eyes cradled in long, dark lashes, a pert nose well-positioned above full lips… his eyes slid down her body like oil, squinting slightly while the rest of his expression remained unchanged… He began to imagine what it would be like to dominate that well-graced body, to force his will upon the all-too-eager girl… she was probably a screamer. His faint smirk twitched to a slightly broader one as his eyes barely squinted again.

She suddenly looked up, turning her head, first left then right, then back to finally notice Zoro scowling at her. Raising a quizzical, slightly perturbed eyebrow, she asked, "Can I help you with something?" He snorted in response, rolling his eyes. She frowned and gave a small _hmph_, genuinely annoyed now.

"I felt someone watching me," he said plainly.

"Why would I be watching you?"

"I never said it was you," the man retorted, rolling his eyes yet again and turning back around.

_174… 175… 176…_

She kept her head down, pretending to be lazily immersed in her book, turning the page every few minutes to encourage the charade, but all the while actually watching him instead. Her dark sunglasses hid her eyes completely; useful for scouting out the victim of her next theft or admiring an attractive man without the risk of having him notice; she had learned from firsthand experience that letting a man know you were attracted to him was not always a good idea. It usually only encouraged obnoxious behavior. Such was her purpose now. Her eyes traced the curves of the muscles on his back, glistening with sweat, rolled around the large right hand clenched into a first and held behind his back as he executed push-up after one armed push-up, traveled up his thick forearm and even thicker bicep, up to his shoulders, down the flat of his stomach that was so regrettably facing the other direction… for the number of fights they had all been in together, his back was impressively almost void of any scars… it was his chest that was riddled with them, his chest and face and arms and legs... but none so great or terrifying as his most impressive scar, shoulder to hip bone…

He paused, and she knew she had succeeded. The ever alert Zoro, like herself, could sense that someone was watching him. He looked back over his shoulder with his usual scowl, eyes moving over the unusually empty deck of Sunny, back and forth, and finally coming to rest on her, as she knew they would. She didn't even blink, watching him and praising herself silently for spending the money on her sunglasses so long ago instead of actually stealing them…

Counting the seconds, she could have laughed out loud when she saw his eyes barely squint, barely begin to wander. She contented herself with an inward grin.

_5… 6… 7…_

After ten full seconds of letting him take her in, she physically looked up, turning her head each way before stopping at him. "Can I help you with something?" she asked snootily, aristocratically raising a single perfect eyebrow. She almost smirked as he rolled his eyes and snorted. _So like him…_ no longer acting, Nami frowned and gave an annoyed _hmph_.

"I felt someone watching me," he said simply, but not before allowing the smallest drop of suspicion to leak into the statement.

"Why would I be watching you?" she asked him with a sniff of disdain.

"Never said it was you," he replied back, now most genuinely annoyed. With a roll of his eyes, he turned his head forward once more and his back began the steady rise… and fall… Rise… and fall… of each one-armed push-up. Nami grinned, smug.

Maybe this wouldn't be as hard as she had originally thought. Not that she had been planning anything originally. He was attractive, so she occasionally watched him, and, like the swordsman, on even rarer occasion slipped into a fantasy (_she_ had no problem with the word) involving perhaps some alcohol, a dark alleyway or room at an inn, and a feral, raw heat that made the back of her neck prickle when she thought about it. Also like the swordsman, her fantasies were nothing of happiness, only pleasure, satisfaction. Let Sanji have his knight-in-shining-armor, save the damsel-in-distress and ride-into-the-sunset fantasies… these were wild, raw, and real. And, when considered honestly, pretty damn feasible. Of course, the idea of having sex with any of her crewmates could hardly be considered normal. From an outsiders point of view, the one she would be most likely to actually have sex with was Sanji, of course. And she would, if he could grow up enough to get over that stupid chivalry shit and stand up to her, challenge her, be dominating enough to actually seduce her… she knew he couldn't though, and it was disappointing to think about. Nor would she be able to dominate him to her satisfaction; he would be too willing to cooperation, too eager, and sex was no fun when there was no chase, no struggle, no conquest. In the end, Sanji was just too much of a gentleman to give her what she wanted.

Luffy… she had played with the idea once or twice before. He was cute, yes, and she appreciated his slender muscularity (as she did Sanji's), and she was certain that anything she tried with him would be unique, interesting, and probably a whole hell of a lot of fun. But no matter how she looked at it… he was Luffy. Her captain, her friend, her redeemer… and she wouldn't be surprised if she would have to show him _exactly_ what to do… his naïveté at 17 still confounded her sometimes.

Usopp was never considered a possibility. His devotion to Kaya, reflected in his devotion to Merry, was absolute, and to her, he was simply not the most attractive of men. He was a true friend though, and useful in a pinch, despite his constant fleeing from battle and his overly-long tales of glory told to Chopper and anyone else willing to listen. And she owed him big-time for the Clima-tact, and even more so now that he had improved it and created the Perfect Clima-tact.

Chopper? Nami was not into that sort of thing.

There was always going to be the tiniest part of her that could not forgive Franky for what he and his family had done to them back in Water 7. That terrible rift that was driven between Usopp and the rest of the Strawhat crew could be blamed for a large part on the Franky Family, the theft, and all the other terrible events that happened over the span of those few days. Yes, he was her crewmate, and she trusted him with her life as she did everyone else on the ship, but that night had placed the smallest seed of fear in her that perhaps, just maybe, something could happen that couldn't be fixed as easily as the events in Water 7, and fixing that had not been easy anyways. So no matter how much she trusted the cyborg with her life and the lives of the entire crew, as she did to every member, she could never consider anything with him…

Besides, she got the feeling that had a thing for Robin.

She had actually considered becoming a lesbian once after a particularly unsatisfying night in port, and played with the idea of propositioning Robin… It didn't take long for that idea to be squashed.

But Zoro… of all the crewmembers, she knew Zoro was the only one that could provide her with the heat, the wildness, the passion and intensity that she so craved… if she were to decide she wanted it from him.

She could remember perfectly the first time she realized that he was in fact a normal human being with a normal sex drive. Well… _almost_ normal. Even if he didn't appear to have any _need_ to satiate it like Sanji did. After a particularly rowdy night at an inn, she had woken and exited her room to discover Zoro exiting not the room they had taken for the boys next to her own, but from another room further down the hall. She had openly stared at him with more surprise than shock or mortification, standing there with his shirt slung over his shoulder, boots in hand, softly closing the door when he turned and noticed her staring at him with a slight jump (she relished the idea of having caught him off-guard just once). His cheeks had barely turned pink (she still wasn't sure if she had imagined it) and his eyes had narrowed, daring her to say a word. She did not take the challenge, but simply raised a single eyebrow with a slight smirk, then turned and walked down the stairs. They never spoke of the incident.

There were a few other occasions, where, late in the night she could hear movement and a female voice, sometimes a murmur, sometimes a muffled scream. It happened more often with Sanji, but he seemed to care enough about everyone's (a.k.a. Nami and Robin's) good opinions of him to make sure he partook in such activities on a different floor. Nami had a knack for guessing, however, especially with the ever-easy-to-read cook; He was always a little more flirtatious, a little more attentive and doting on her and later Robin as well, as if the previous night and reaffirmed the idea that he could one day score with either girl if he tried hard enough. Not that he realized that she knew about his various "escapades;" she was always careful not to be noticed if she spotting him leaving a different room, or leaving the table in the tavern a little early after some sneakily exchanged glances with a woman across the room.

In contrast to this, Zoro rarely made any true effort to hide his activities in port, other than not making any attempt to reveal them to the rest of the crew. Nami respected that for some reason. She found it incredibly honest of him, a raw sort of honesty that she rarely saw anywhere else; he could still be Zoro but still be human, an idea which had not really occurred to her before that surprise encounter in the hallway of the inn that morning.

She stared at the unread page of her book, lost in thought, then remembering the need to turn the page continue her charade. She flipped the heavy cream-colored page, stole one last glance at the swordsman, still doing push-ups (_422… 423… 424…_) and, with a smug grin, began to read the book for real.

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**What did you guys think? Please review or add me or SOMETHING to let me know you liked it! Or hated it even, just please be gentle…**


	2. Waiting

**Wow! I never expected to get so many reviews in such a short period of time, let alone so many positive ones! Thank you everyone! [dance] I only hope I can continue to deliver [heart] in the meantime, tell everyone you know about GooglyMooglies! Spread the word! Convert others to angsty ZoNa goodness!**

**I still find it hilarious that half the reason I'm writing this is cuz I don't like the pairing very much in the first place. My fave pairings would have to be ZoSan, ZoLu, and LuNa. Of course, they always have to be in character, nothing bugs me more than when they are out of character and wonky and such… Zoro has to be all aloof and everything, Luffy just has to be his regular goofy self (find the author Alastair for the best LuNa I've EVER read… she's the one that turned me into a LuNa fan), and Nami and Sanji really just depend on the context. Nami is allowed to be sweet and caring if the moment is right, and Sanji can too cuz he's Sanji and actually has a heart unlike Zoro and tact unlike Luffy, but either one can be asshole-ish as well… as we saw in the previous chapter with Nami lol.**

**I also like ZoRo, and RoFran is also nice ^_^**

**I guess I just really like forcing Zoro to admit that he has emotions XD**

**ANYWAYS.**

**Sorry, got a little carried away there. On with the fic!**

**And obviously since I'm not talking in Japanese, I'm not the great Eichiro Oda, creator and owner of One Piece. If I were, I wouldn't have the sort of time to sit around and write silly fanfiction in which I pair two of my characters in some angsty romantic shit, I would be busy drawing the next chapter of the manga. Instead I borrow them and have fun for a bit, then send them on their way. I make no profit whatsoever.**

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_~Two weeks later~_

"Land ho!" Shouted Usopp from the crow's nest of Sunny.

As the rest of the crew began to celebrate, moved to knock on the door of Nami's cabin. When she received no answer, she carefully opened the door and glanced inside. Robin smiled softly upon seeing the sleeping navigator, head cradled in her arms on her desk, with the half-finished map of their last stop beneath her. The poor girl had been dealing with a higher level of stress than usual. A storm, an elevated number of marine attacks, and a strange parasite that they had picked up at the previous island and which was now attacking her precious _mikan_ trees were just a sample of the long list of problems the orange-haired navigator had been having to deal with lately. Robin stepped forward to gently wake her when she noticed the log pose was not occupying its usual spot on the girl's wrist; instead, she clutched it in her hand. Robin peered at it and immediately saw what had prompted the mapmaker to remove the vital instrument from her wrist. The older woman gently removed it from her hand and with closer examination confirmed her fears. She watched the usually stationary needle waver back and forth, despite her holding the log still.

_So this explains the recent lack of authority in her voice when calling orders in the steering of the ship._ Robin smiled sadly, pity welling in her heart for the girl. Of course she hadn't mentioned it to anyone, her pride as a navigator getting the better of her.

Noticing the girl beginning to shift slightly, Robin carefully replaced the log pose and gently lad a hand on Nami's shoulder. "Miss Navigator?" Nami's eyes fluttered open.

"Hn? Robin?" Looking around sleepily and slipping the log pose back onto her wrist, Nami slowly arose from her previous position, stretching her arms. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Miss Navigator. We've arrived at the next island," Robin replied with a smile, fondly admiring the headstrong girl, so determined to not let down Luffy and his unwavering faith in her navigational skills.

Robin's smile grew as Nami's shoulders visibly released the tension pent up within them. The worried expression melted into a relieved, tired smile. "Is that so? That's good…" Nami breathed a small sigh of relief, getting up to go and direct docking the ship into port.

"Yes, Miss Navigator," said the older woman with a smile, following her out of the cabin.

Nami wandered the streets of Palchinka, admiring the quaint, whimsical town. The Strawhat crew had dispersed into the town in the usual fashion: Sanji on a quest for food supplies, Robin and Chopper seeking out some small, secluded bookstore, Luffy exploring the entire town, leaping across buildings happily, Usopp searching for new gadgets. Franky had elected to stay behind and guard the ship that night, as he still had some repairs to do after their last run-in with the marines. Zoro… who knew what he was doing. Probably lost. Or at a bar getting drunk. She drifted of into her thoughts. _Maybe… _She suddenly snapped back to reality when she spotted what she had been searching for Waves of relief overtook her as she stepped into "The Navigator's Emporium." _Sounds like it was made for me_, she thought with a grin. The walls were covered in maps, the shelves lined with books, pens, paper, and to her great joy, hundreds of log poses. Every type of log pose imaginable was here; normal logs of all sizes, eternal logs to hundreds of destinations; the store even sold combination logs, something she had only seen once or twice before. Suddenly, a voice made her freeze.

"You be needin' a new log? You wouldn't be the first. You have no idea how many green navigators come in here thinkin' their log is busted or summat." The fishman shopkeeper grinned at her. "Most of 'em aren't nearly as pretty as yourself, though," he added with a wink.

_Calm down,_ she thought, unable to resist the urge to grab her left shoulder. _You're only a few islands away from Fishman Island, it's not that weird for one to be here._ Still, his words cut her like steel. _Crap! How can I be calm?! That voice…_ She could feel heat rising up her neck and over her face. "Um, no," she mumbled with an attempt at a smile. "I'm just looking around."

"Alright, then," replied the ray-man with a shrug. "Call me if you need summat." He gave another grin through sharp teeth before disappearing through the door behind the counter.

She ran from the store.

_Dammit! Of all of the crew, Kuroobi was the most suspicious of me. And now, right before we get to Fishman Island, I walk into a store run by his twin brother?! _She bitterly rubbed her eyes, hot, angry tears coursing out of them as she cursed her now innate fear of all fishmen. Not only that, he had insulted her skills as a navigator?! Nami struggled to keep her anger and hurt pride under control. Pausing in a side street, Nami caught her breath and attempted to recollect herself. _I need a drink_, she thought. _A _strong_ drink._

He chuckled. Even though he lacked any sense of direction (not that he would ever admit he was directionally challenged, of course), he could always manage to find some place to buy a drink. With a smug grin, he stepped inside, walked up to the bar, and sat down. "Bartender! An ale."

He was suddenly cut off by a loud coughing noise next to him. Looking at the source, his high spirits suddenly deflated. Sitting right next to him was a pair of long legs, generous hips, ample breasts, and orange hair. He grimaced. His grimace became a scowl when she asked, between coughs, "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"As if I can't go to whichever bar I please?" he shot back. "I could ask you the same thing! And just _how_ many drinks have you had?" He demanded, referring to the large number of empty tankards and shot glasses surrounding her.

"Shut up! Like I need your permission to drink!" she replied vehemently. "Great, just _great_… of all the times, of all the places, of all the _people,_" she groaned, head in her hands.

"Well, pardon me," he returned with a snide smile. "And exactly why _are _you drinking so much? What, are you trying to get drunk or something?"

"So what if I am? What the hell do you care? Dammit, you still owe me a ton of money, you jerk! That's it, you get to pay for my drinks!"

"WHAT?!" demanded the now flabbergasted Zoro. When had this conversation gotten so out of hand? "You psycho bitch, I'm not paying you anything! You can go drink yourself to the lowest level of hell!"

"As if I would let that happen," she replied with an evil smile. "Bartender! This man is going to pay my tab for me! Three more shots, please!"

"-the hell?!" Zoro quickly snatched the third shot away from her as she downed the first two in quick succession. "No way are you getting all of this to yourself! Hell if I'm paying for all of it, and hell if I don't get something out of it for me!" He took the shot and almost choked. _What the hell?! How many of these has she had? _He struggled to regain his composure as the strong liquid burned his throat. _This has got to be the strongest stuff I've had in a while!_

"What's the matter? Too much for you?" Nami raised her eyebrow, grinning devilishly.

"Like hell it is! Bartender, three more!" Zoro shoved himself onto the stool beside her and rapidly took the three shots one after another. Slamming the glass down, he glared at her, furious. Nami raised both eyebrows this time.

"Impressive," she sniffed. Then, she sighed. "Alright, fine."

"Eh?" Zoro was confused. Was she giving up? He watched from the corner of his eye, wary. Silence stretched between the pair as the activities in the bar continued on around them. Suddenly, Nami spoke.

"Look, I've been kinda stressed lately, in case you haven't noticed, and I'm currently trying to get drunk in an attempt to relax and get my mind off some things, if you're going to join me, feel free, but otherwise, I'd appreciate it if you left me alone."

Zoro was shocked. Ms. Bossy, stressed? Shit, how long was it going to take to get her drunk? He paused, considering his options. On one hand, if he got drunk too, who could tell how much money she might milk out of him. On the other, the most recent marine attack had included his favorite person, a certain Sergeant Major, and, oh, how he _hated_ being reminded of Kuina by a little goody-two-shoes marine like her. On the other hand…

Zoro growled. "Screw it," he muttered, scooting his barstool closer to the bar. Nami raised her eyebrows again, even more impressed that the swordsman had decided to stay. "Fine, but I'm only paying for half of the drinks."

Nami grinned. This could get interesting. "Deal."

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**Ewwww!!! I hated that!!! Sorry, I know I promised a little more *action* (if you get me [winkwink]) by this time, but I didn't feel like it. EW I HATED THAT SCENE T_T. Someone shoot me or something... [ashamed] Ew, I've already slipped into the dreaded quagmire that is clichés and all sorts of nasty things in writing... T_T [sobs] Put me out of my misery! I hated it, but it was necessary to get to the next part... [tear]**

**ew... [must scrub writing muscles to rid them of the terrible stench of clichés and plot holes]**


	3. Walking

**Hi guys! Its me again… I am soooooo sorry about that last chapter! I know it sucked, thank you so much for bearing with me and just getting through that little bit of unpleasantness! I consider that chapter a work in progress… check back ever once in a while to see if it's changed, cuz I'll update it a good bit! In fact, I have already! **

**Once again, thank you for all reviews! [hearts]**

**selle18: your review only confirmed my worst fears, and I got so depressed that I… just kidding. I went and changed it a little… you pointed out that I did indeed do that which is the curse of all OP fanfiction writers… giving stereotypical bits of each character before getting back into the story. I wanted to bury myself under my covers out of shame when I was sitting on my bed with the laptop reading your review… but it helped! Please leave more of the same length! But… I am terribly afraid of not living up to your expectations now… I'm trying to think of a good plot twist BEFORE the one I already have planned out. [frets] I hope it can satisfy! But yes, go back and you'll see the edits! They are just for you (just kidding lol).**

**cherrychik: The only reason I'm a fast updater is cuz I goof off in class and write fanfiction instead of paying attention and taking notes [cough] I blame my bad grades on all of you, dammit! [shakes fist] just kidding, I actually love you guys ^_^**

**Everyone else, you guys are too nice! [blush] Shut up! Saying stuff like that doesn't make me happy, you assholes! [does Chopper dance] ^3^**

**And also once again, I'm not Eichiro Oda. Please don't sue me.**

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She had been at the bar for about an hour when a familiar voice next to her made her splutter and choke on her glass of the bar's strongest firewhiskey. The swordsman's expression showed that he reciprocated her sentiments, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with the man and his attitude (not that she could ever let him know she wasn't raring for a battle – never let 'em see you sweat, right?). But the struggle of saving face soon proved too much, and she turned away with a tired sigh and, to her surprise in addition to his, found herself offering the swordsman the option of joining her. _Ah, why not_, she thought with a bitter smile. _After all, misery certainly loves company._

Now she was glad to have his company. For all his faults, Nami found a simple enjoyment in just talking with the man, laughing about Luffy's latest antics or teasing him about his participation in the marine attack the other day (he flipped upon seeing the sergeant major and hid in the kitchen after slicing two of the cannon balls fired at the ship); she didn't even mind too much when he made a few snide remarks about Sanji.

_I suppose he isn't so bad after all, _she confessed inwardly. _We are nakama after all, it's not like we can really hate each other_. She smiled. _No, I don't hate him. He really _is_ a good guy, even if he does owe me a considerable amount of money_. At this she snickered, eliciting a side-long glare from her companion. When his attention moved back to his umpteenth drink of the evening, she watched him from the corner of her eye with a grin. But before she could slip away into any more fantasies, she shook herself and faced forward again. _I guess this is just what I needed._ She took another drink.

_Nah,_ thought Zoro._ I guess it really isn't so bad, sitting here, drinking with her. At least she can hold her alcohol, especially for a woman._ He snickered._ She can even hold it better than her precious curly-browed cook._ With an evil grin, he told as much to the girl, smile widening when he got a huffy sniff in response and ignoring the slight blush that appeared across the girl's nose. Suddenly the navigator sighed.

"Hn?"

She smiled at him. "I guess you aren't such a bad guy after all, Zoro."

He scowled. "Tch! 'After all?' Thanks a lot."

"Aww! C'mon, Zoro, don't be like that!" The navigator pouted prettily. "Here." She pushed another tankard at him and took one for herself. Lifting her glass, she grinned at the swordsman. "To nakama."

He reciprocated with a wry smile. "To attaining our goals."

Her grin widened. "To becoming the best!" she declared.

To her suprise, Zoro let out a hearty laugh. "I can drink to that!" The pair clinked their glasses and drained the tankards in a few loud gulps. Setting the glasses down, they looked at each other, sizing the other one up, when Nami suddenly began to giggle. The giggle soon turned into a full-throated laugh. Zoro raised his eyebrows at the woman, but felt a similar laugh rising up from deep within his throat. Suddenly, there they were, surrounded by empty tankards and shot glasses, laughing like a couple of loons.

It took a few minutes for the manic laughter to subside.

"Damn," muttered Nami. "I'm drunk."

It was Zoro's turn to be stunned. He had just now achieved a nice buzz, and the navigator rivaled him in the amount she could drink, despite her much smaller frame. _Have I ever see her truly drunk before? Drunk, and not faking it? _Zoro tried to remember any occasion and found he couldn't. His eyes narrowed with suspicion. "I've never seen you drunk before," he said accusingly. "How do I know you aren't faking just to lull me into some false sense of security? And how do I know you aren't planning on robbing me blind?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Zoro deeply regretted them. The girl's face turned even pinker at his words, and she hung her head as if ashamed, swaying slightly. The swordsman grabbed the girl's chin and forced her to look at him, searching her face. The usually sharp eyes had lost some of their sparkle, and sweat droplets were beading across her brow. Nami's eyebrows raised at the shock on his face.

"Told ya so," she pouted. Pulling away from him, she laid her face in her own hands and moaned. "Aw, hell."

Awkward silence now stretched between the pair. Desperate for something to do, Zoro downed three more shots in rapid succession. To his satisfaction, he felt the buzzing in his ears grow louder.

"Uh…" he floundered for words, searching for words to break the now stifling silence that encircled the pair. _Shit!_ he thought in desperation as his instincts screamed at him to find something, _anything_ to say to make the girl feel a little bit better. His panic only increased when he realized that she was crying large, drunken tears onto the bar counter. "O-oi!" started the swordsman, his alarm growing by the second. He could handle one, two, three swords with grace and style, but a crying girl was something he had absolutely no experience with, aside from knowing that one could be as dangerous and destructive as any katana.

Nami hiccupped. "Sorry," she sniffed pathetically. "I've just been dealing with a lot of stuff lately, and I… I…" The girl's lip quiver, eyes once again threatening to spill over with tears. "And the log…!" Her voice broke again.

"Wait. What's wrong with the log?" demanded Zoro, suddenly very concerned even through his increasing haze.

"It's broken!" wailed the now distraught girl, flinging her wrist at him. "It's broken, and when I went to a shop to get a new one, the store keeper was—he was—" she took a gasping breath. "—a ray-man! Practically Kuroobi's twin! He was always—he never—" a fresh wave of sobs broke through now, and the poor girl buried her head in her free arm. Zoro's panic continued to increase exponentially as he held the sobbing girls hand in his, watching the needle of the log slower waver back and forth. He obviously wasn't the navigator in thiscrackpot expedition, but he at least knew they needed to do something, fishmen shopkeepers or not.

"Erm… Kuroobi… was the one that… the shi—er, _Sanji_ beat up, right?" Nami nodded into her arm on the counter. "Well!" Zoro pressed forward, attempting to make his voice sound encouraging. "Why don't we, erm… get th—_Sanji_—to go with you… to the store, that is… tomorrow? I'm sure he'd be—uh—_happy_ to accompany you!"

She looked up at him, her face a blotchy mess. "You think so?" she whimpered.

"You kidding? Of course he would!" insisted the man, forcing a cramped-looking smile to his face and trying to sound encouraging, praying for his efforts to be successful. Whatever crazy gods were in charge of the universe that evening seemed to like Zoro, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the girl nodded, rubbing her eyes and responding with a pathetic "Ok."

Suddenly, Zoro felt a hand on his arm. "Hey sweetie," purred a silky voice in his ear. "Why don't you ditch your weepy girlfriend and come spend a little time with me?" Zoro turned his head to discover a hippy brunette smiling seductively at him.

"No." Zoro didn't do polite when he wasn't interested.

This didn't seem to deter the woman. "Aw, come on," she purred again. "We'll have some fun." The swordsman suddenly noticed her other hand on his thigh, moving sensually in circles.

"Look lady--" Zoro grabbed both her wrists with one hand in one swift motion, holding them firmly in between him and the smiling woman. It was at this point that he heard a thump and a gasp behind him. Turning around, he discovered Nami being held by two large, burly men. One had both her arms behind her back with one hand and his other hand clamped over her mouth, the other was crouched down by her legs, one arm around her waist and the other holding her knees. Nami's eyes were wide and terrified. She stared at Zoro, pleading for help. "What the--!"

"She is pretty, I suppose, but you could do sooo much better." The woman closed the gap between them and pressed herself against him, grinding her hips into his groin. Zoro ignored this and pushed her away with slightly more force than before, keeping his focus on Nami. This made both men chuckle sinisterly, and the one with the grip on her legs leaned down and slowly licked her lower thigh with an evil grin. Nami whimpered and squirmed, trying to get away with no avail.

"Hey!" Zoro started forward, but then everything happened very quickly. When he felt a biting pain in his hand, he quickly released the woman's wrists. She grinned at him, a sinister giggle escaping her lips, as she brought a dagger up to lick it seductively. It took a moment for the swordsman to register that the liquid she was licking off was in fact _his _blood. _What? _He looked at his hand, and realized she had somehow managed to cut him while he was holding her wrists. A low growl arose in his throat.

"Ooh, not friendly. It's too bad. I was really taking a liking to you." Another, much more urgent whimper from Nami reminded Zoro where his attention needed to be, and he turned back around so that he could free her from her captors. But Nami wasn't there. The two men were roughly escorting her out the door of the bar. Zoro had to give a wry grin when he saw how difficult she was making it for them, twisting and writhing like a slippery fish, kicking long legs and doing her best to wrestle out of the men's grasps; for all her efforts, however, they were overpowering her. Zoro panicked. But he wasn't given much time to linger on this because there was suddenly a sharp, biting pain in his side. With a cry, he fell to his knees. The she-devil had planted her knife in his side. With a haughty laugh, she followed the two men and Nami out the door.

"Shit!" It took a moment for Zoro to regain his senses, remove the knife with a grunt, and run after the four, unsheathing Wado Ichimonji. He was out of the bar in time to see the woman turning a corner. He quickly pursued. With a yell, he rounded the corner, his heart pounding and adrenaline giving him a satisfying rush as he cornered them in the alleyway. He grinned evilly when he saw the surprise and fright in the female's eyes and the panic in the two men's.

Zoro finished it quickly, first freeing Nami from the hold of the thugs and taking down each one in the process; their female counterpart chose to run instead of testing Zoro's chivalry. He didn't follow her. Instead, he turned to his companion, whose legs had given out from under her. Nami now sat, leaning against the wall of the alley, eyes closed, breathing hard. He went to her, offering his hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. "Let's find someplace to spend the night," he said quietly. Nami nodded, leaning on him for support as they made their way out of the alley, searching for an inn.

-----------

It took her a moment to realize what exactly had happened. First, that annoying bitch was hitting on Zoro. Nami wasn't terribly drunk, so she still had clarity to understand what was going on and to know that it annoyed her (not to mention made her _slightly_ jealous). Hello, she was right there! That slutty bitch had to be the most obnoxious person ever, practically plastering herself to Zoro like a wet towel. But the next thing she knew, Nami was being restrained and groped by a couple of thugs. She tried to get Zoro to help her, but when he had moved to act, something distracted him; that bitch had _cut_ him? Wait, where did she get the knife? Wasn't he holding onto her wrists? Nami didn't have much time to ponder this because suddenly she was being forced out of the bar. She struggled and kicked and tried everything to get away, employing the same method Luffy had used when she had tried to force him to bathe once (he hadn't taken a bath in ages, what was she supposed to do, throw him in the ocean?), refusing to give her captors a break but rather twisting and turning, always moving and slipping out of their grasp. Unfortunately, she was not made of rubber, so this was not as effective a tactic as it had been for Luffy (in the end, he didn't take the bath). Her panic increased tenfold when she watched the woman bury her knife into Zoro's side and follow her companions out of the bar.

The woman had been about to say something when an animalistic yell sounded in the darkness, echoing into the alleyway. Suddenly, Zoro was everywhere, cutting down the two men and turning on the woman; she had already fled. _Obviously she doesn't expect Zoro to have the same morals as Sanji_, Nami thought with a wry grin. _Smart._ Her legs gave, and she collapsed, leaning against the cold brick of the alley wall. She shivered, covered in a cold sweat as her heart raced and she tried to slow her breathing and calm down. Then a large, strong hand was being offered, and she took it and was lifted to her feet. Suddenly she was very close to him, and could almost feel his heartbeat pounding as loud as hers felt. _He's always saving me_, she wondered in her daze. She leaned forward, and he pulled her arm around his shoulder and held her firmly around her waist as they stepped out into the night.

Nami took a shuddering breath as her heartbeat slowed to a more reasonable pace, and she again realized just how close she was to the swordsman. She breathed in his scent, smiling. He smelled of sweat, alcohol, and hard work; of strength and courage; of honor and determination. It was a nice smell, and it made her feel safe and comforted; her heartbeat steadied a bit more. She breathed in deeply again, leaning in closer to him and burying her nose in his shirt as they walked. "O-oi," muttered the swordsman at this action. "What are you doing?"

She giggled and looked up at him. To her surprise, he looked a little embarrassed and scandalized by her attention. "You smell nice," she explained simply. She giggled again in delight as his slight blush spread across his face.

"Oi, you're drunk. Don't be acting stupid," he warned, looking away again with pointed determination.

"Aww," she pouted, pushing him gently. Caught off guard, he stumbled slightly.

"Hey! Watch it!" he scolded.

Nami giggled again. Bugging Zoro was fun, but this was just too cute, him being all embarrassed and stuff. She grinned impishly at the swordsman. He glowered back. Suddenly, he reached over and pushed gently on her shoulder. Nami almost fell over.

"Hey! Watch it!" the navigator said vehemently, and then blushed when she realized she had just echoed the swordsman. He chuckled. "Hpmh!" Nami pouted. They continued walking.

Out of nowhere, Zoro found himself on the ground and Nami laughing uproariously in his face. He tried to get up, but tripped, and fell again, this time landing in a puddle, splashing the girl who shrieked, still laughing. "What the hell?! What was that for?!" he demanded.

"Oh, Zoro, you're so funny!" Nami teased. Then, he pounced, and she screamed in delight as he grabbed her and pulled her down into the puddle with him. Zoro quickly stood up and observed the girl, sitting in the puddle, soaking wet and very confused-looking. He began to laugh heartily at the ridiculous-looking girl. She stuck out her bottom lip, pouting, and held out her hands for him to help her up. He did so, once again, and suddenly she was not the only one to realize just how close they were.

They stared at each other, not saying a word, focused entirely on the spots where their thighs were pressed against each other, their hands interlaced, torsos almost flush together. Each one tried to ignore how loud their heartbeat was, as warm brown eyes looked up into bright green ones. Their breath mixed, barely creating small clouds in the cooling night air. Neither one moved for what seemed like an eternity.

A loud noise in the alleyway they had just come from startled the pair, forcing them apart as a cat in quick pursuit of its prey ran from the alley and down the street.

Nami was the first to speak. "Um… about that place to spend the night…" her voice trailed off.

"Right," agreed Zoro. He looked around, trying to make a decision on where to try first. The navigator was way ahead of him, already having taken off down the street, heading for what looked to be a warm, inviting tavern and inn. "O-oi!" The swordsman ran to catch up. By the time he did, she was at the door, entering. "Wait! How do you know this is a good place?" He questioned.

"I don't," she answered plainly. "What I do know is that I'm tired, drunk, and am going to have the devil of a hangover tomorrow morning, so I want to get a room _now_."

The swordsman didn't argue. Nor did he argue when she only asked for one room (he did, however allow a small mutter of "cheapskate" to escape). He didn't even argue when there was only one bed in the room (but couldn't help grumbling about how a double room wasn't _that _much more expensive). Zoro just groaned tiredly as he sat on the floor, pulling an extra blanket and pillow from the closet and pealing off his boots and now damp shirt, carefully placing his swords within arms reach. He arranged his makeshift pad and was positioning himself to go to sleep when he noticed Nami watching him from the edge of the bed. "What?"

"I- I dunno. Thanks," she said, her face turning an interesting shade of magenta.

"It was nothing," he shrugged, moving to turn over and go to sleep, when she suddenly gave a cry.

"Zoro! Your wound!" She ran across the room and knelt beside him, gingerly placing a hand on the injury. He hissed in pain as her fingers caused stinging shots to run through his side. "Oh! I'm sorry!" Nami ran to the closet and pulled out another sheet and began ripping it into thin strips.

"Hey! What are you doing?" demanded Zoro.

"Bandaging your injury! I can't let you sleep without it receiving _some_ form of treatment, Chopper will never forgive me!" Zoro winced at the prospect of the tiny doctor's wrath. "Oh, wait!" remembered Nami. "I have to clean it first! I'll be right back!" she hurried from the room.

Zoro sighed, scratching his head. _I swear,_ he thought_, women can be so damn _weird.

Nami soon returned with hot water and antibiotic ointment, along with a soft clean washrag. He hissed again in protest as she began cleaning the wound with the hot water and rag. "Oh, stop complaining, you big baby! If it gets infected, we're all screwed!"

Zoro didn't argue with that, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to argue at all. "Look, you! Be _gentle!_" pain making his voice hiss through his teeth. When he got no response, he grabbed the girl's wrist and pulled her to him, glaring into her face. "_That hurts._"

She looked shocked, then her face softened in apology. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'll try to be more gentle."

"Ok." He released her and shifted to give her access to the injury. She began cleaning it again, taking more care to not irritate the enflamed area.

"I am sorry… It really was my fault…" Nami began.

"Don't." The swordsman cut her off. "I should have been paying better attention to what was going on around us, otherwise I wouldn't have been caught off guard like that."

"But-" she started again.

Again, he stopped her. "Look, it's not that big a deal. Besides, I've gotten worse, right?" He turned to face her again, purposely emphasizing his point by showing off the gift given to him in his battle with Mihawk.

She looked down at her hands, a blush once again creeping up her neck. "Yeah…" She turned away to grab the ointment and began carefully applying it to the area around the wound. Once finished with that, she took the makeshift bandages and began wrapping his torso, forcing him to lift his arms and wait patiently for her to finish. Once she was, she tied off the bandage and ripped the excess off. "There."

Zoro slowly lowered his arms, and both realized once again just how near to the other they were. Their faces were inches from each other, and they hovered there, neither wanting to look into the other one's eyes this time, trying to let their eyes fall anywhere else. Finally looking at her, Zoro spoke. "Uh… thanks."

"No problem," Nami whispered, still avoiding his eyes.

And gently, very gently, he reached up to place a large, calloused hand on the back of her neck, and slowly pressed his lips onto hers. Their eyes slowly closed as it happened, and he carefully pulled her closer to him. She stiffened, but soon relaxed against him, placing one hand on his chest and the other where his neck met his shoulder, deepening the kiss. He began to rub the back of her neck, massaging the stiff muscles in her neck and shoulders. It was soon ended, however, when they both suddenly pulled apart, blushing furiously.

"Um…" Nami began, not knowing what to say.

"Right," Zoro agreed.

The navigator got up quickly and stripped off her still-damp shirt and skirt, hurriedly getting into the bed and turning out the light. The swordsman tried not to watch, then turned over carefully as to not hurt his wound and laid down.

"Good night," Nami whispered to the room.

Zoro said nothing.

--------

**Whew! That's much better! I rather liked the ending to that chapter ^_^ [proud of self]**

**MWAHAHAHA!!! You thought I was gonna give you more than just one lil' ol' kiss, didntcha? So did I [cough]. But Nami and Zoro apparently had other plans… [pout] Dammit, this is my fic! Not yours! You hear me, you two?! [shakes fist] Damn characters changing the plot line… +*grumblemutter*+**

**But yeah… that was my first time writing something like that, so please be gentle. Oh geez, I have no idea how I'm gonna write anything more than that…**

**[uses mind powers] review review review… [waves fingers]**


	4. Waking

**HAI GUYZ! Sorry, had to get that out of my system.**

**cherrychik: aw, you're so sweet! +blush+ yay I have a fan! +does happy dance+  
**

**Galleta: +bows+ thank you for telling me about that typo… if anyone sees a typo, tell me, dammit! I hate looking silly for any longer than I have to… = 3= (that's my pouty face)**

**yuMeNami: Awww, but it's not her fault, she was drunk! lol +heart+ not to mention, Zoro-kun is a sexy beast lol.**

**German girl (anonymous): hey, that's the point! The wound was forgotten about because of other things… like pushing each other into puddles! Hee XD but yes, and then Nami saw it and was all upset that she had forgotten about it… hence her not being so gentle at first when treating it.**

**When I was writing that bit (when she's bandaging his injury), it really reminded me of that scene in Beauty and the Beast when he gets injured saving her and she's cleaning the wound and he's all OUCHRAWR!!! And she's like oh you big baby! And so on…**

**And of course, once again, I'm NOT Eichiro Oda.**

-------

Sunlight danced into the room, waking the swordsman. Sitting up groggily, Zoro discovered that he was in fact alone. _What the…?_ Last night was a bit blurry, but… Pieces slowly began coming back to him. _Oh yeah, Nami and I were drinking… weird… And she was actually being tolerable. And I got away with not having to pay for the drinks…_(A/N: wait, they didn't pay at all?! I turned my beloved characters into a couple of Eat-N-Runners?! WTF?!?) _She certainly drank a lot…_ More details returned. _Wait, then that crazy lady showed up…_ Twisting in an effort to stretch his stiff muscles, a sudden sharp pain in his side made him grunt in surprise. _Oh yeah… psychotic bitch stabbed me…_ More clarity. _Oh shit, then Nami was kidnapped! Oh, wait, it's ok, I saved her. Again. _Slowly standing up, rubbing his head. _And then… _Zoro was suddenly once again on the ground, his eyes widened in horrified shock.

Shit.

It was shit like this that made him swear off alcohol, only to return to it the next day.

And because the gods loved tormenting him, it was at this moment that Nami, accompanied by Chopper, entered the room.

------

Nami woke when a single brilliant sunbeam fell into the room, long and thin, its brightness as sharp as a dagger. This had been sufficient to wake her because the crack in the curtains that it managed to squeeze through was artfully placed so that it would land right on her face. Perfect. She rolled over with a groan, murmuring to Robin to see if perhaps she could do something to fix the curtains, pretty please? Damn, her head hurt. Her bed was not as comfy as it usually was either.

Reality hit her like a train and she sat up in bed with a gasp. Nami immediately regretted this and bent over with a moan of pain, clutching her forehead. "Aw, _hell…_" She flopped back down on the bed. _What the hell was I thinking? Dammit… none of my fantasies about this sort of thing ever turned out like _that_. Aw, that's not fair! _She pouted for a moment, head still reeling, and then attempted to sort her memories of the night into some intelligible form. She gasped again, suddenly remembering Zoro's injury. Damn! Hangover or not, she needed to get Chopper so he could administer some proper medical care. She sat up with more care this time, massaging her temples, then quietly slipped into her now dry shirt and skirt, blushing slightly at the thought that she had actually undressed down to her underwear in front of the swordsman. _Nothing he hasn't seen before_, a voice in the back of her mind muttered. Nami ignored it and quickly hurried from the room.

It didn't take her long to find Chopper, and Robin with him, which was rather impressive considering her throbbing headache and slight disorientation, not to mention the fact that, nine times out of ten, one never found the person they hoped to find when the playing board was an entire town. Nami smugly attributed her luck to her natural navigational skills instinctively leading her to her goal. After quickly explaining the situation to the pair, the navigator showed the reindeer the way back to the inn, Robin volunteering to explain the situation to the rest of the crew if and when she saw them.

Now, having burst into the room again with Chopper in tow, Nami was actually surprised to find the swordsman awake. "Eh? Zoro? You're up? Oh, good, I didn't really want to have to wake you up," she said, leaning over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

"Aah! Zoro!! Are you ok!?" panicked the young reindeer. He was suddenly bewildered when both Nami and Zoro groaned, holding their foreheads in their hands.

"Chopper… please… be quieter…" Zoro said tiredly, his face the picture of a hangover. "Ugh, I'm never going to drink again."

"Please…" scoffed Nami, despite the ringing in her ears. She sank to the floor, leaning against the wall. "Like you could have the willpower to do that…" her voiced trailed off as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes with a grimace.

"Um… Zoro?" Chopper ventured a whisper. He continued on hurriedly when the swordsman opened a bloodshot eye at him. "I need to take a look at your injury…"

Zoro groaned and dropped his head, too tired to fight anything, and the small doctor moved in and slowly began unwrapping Nami's makeshift bandage from last night, clucking through his teeth when he saw the damage. "Lift your hands above your head," he ordered. The swordsman grudgingly obeyed. As Chopper took out needle, thread, and clean bandages and set to work, Zoro leaned against the wall and drifted off in thought.

_Well… having gotten over the shock of it all, I suppose last night wasn't so bad. Whatever. I'm over it. If she wants to make a big deal out of it, she can be my guest. _He snorted. _She probably will. She is a woman, after all. A psychotic, penny-pinching, she-devil of a woman. Even if she is… pretty_, he admitted begrudgingly. Suddenly, he felt it again: that pestering, invasive feeling of someone watching him. Looking up quickly, he was shocked upon meeting Nami's brown eyes. _What…? So she _was _the one watching me all those times…? _His eyes narrowed._ I knew it._

Nami watched the swordsman coolly as he received the reindeer's aid. When he noticed and looked up at her quickly, his eyes narrowing, she didn't blink. Instead, she stood her ground, gaze unfaltering, until finally the swordsman seemed to accept this and looked away again. She wanted to collapse right there from relief. _Oh my god… that was the scariest thing ever! I thought I was going to burst into flames from that death glare! _She held her hands close to her chest in an attempt to quell their shaking. _At least… At least he seems fine with it. I'm glad it's not like, awkward or anything…_ she began to watch Chopper's ministrations on the man again. _Although… it is pretty hot, seeing him all scuffed up like that…_ she grinned very slightly. _And even if last night was weird, it doesn't change anything. He's still the idiotic, directionally-challenged swordsman who drinks and swears too much and I'm the beautiful, talented navigator. _She gave a smug chuckle, inciting another momentary glare from the swordsman. _And still, I'm a woman with needs, right? Am I not allowed to indulge myself every now and then? Speaking of indulging…_ She stood up with a big grin on her face.

"Well then, Chopper, I leave him in your hands!"

"Eh?! Where are you going?" the small doctor asked.

"Shopping!" was the answer as Nami turned for the door. Suddenly she stopped. "Oh yeah…"

_Shit,_ Zoro thought with a flinch as she turned and laid that evil eye on him. He feared the worst and knew his fears were well placed when a delicate hand was thrust in front of his face. "Guh!"

"You," Nami said, pointing at Zoro and grinning smugly when he flinched again, "owe me money."

"Shit! You know I can't pay you! I already paid for the drinks last night anyway!"

Nami laughed haughtily at this. "Please! That was only half of the drinks, and not even a tenth of what you owe me! You obviously aren't very good at math beyond simple addition and subtraction, or you would have realized just how much your debt to me has grown. Pay up!" She wiggled her fingers in his face greedily.

Zoro cursed her, her ancestors, and her descendants. He cursed everything about her and then some. He cursed women in general, debts in general, money in general, and shopping in general, but mostly he just cursed Nami. She just laughed in his face as he shoved the bills into her outstretched hand with a snarl. "Thank you Zoro!" she crowed, and left.

"Bitch..." Zoro muttered, furious, as Chopper went back to work. "Shitty, money-crazed, manipulative, psychotic…" his voice trailed off into an unintelligible string of noises.

"Uh… Zoro? I'm finished now," the small doctor mumbled.

"Oh. Thanks, Chopper."

"You know, Zoro…" Chopper ventured. "It really wouldn't hurt for you to be nicer to Nami about this. She seemed really worried about you when she came and got me…"

Zoro grimaced, rolling his eyes.

"Well, uh… I guess that's all. I'll need to check it tomorrow so… well, I guess by tomorrow you could be anywhere… so there's no point in telling you to just spend tonight at this hotel again… well… if you stay with Nami then she can come find me…" Seeing Zoro's expression at this suggestion, Chopper panicked. "Or not! You don't have to do anything! I'll find you and check it whenever!" Heading for the door, he stopped one last time. "She… does mean well… well, I like to think so, anyways." With that, the reindeer left.

Zoro laid down with an exasperated sigh. He thought she wasn't bothered by it, but he had momentarily forgotten the fact that women were difficult, enigmatic creatures that would never be solved by any male on the face of the planet.

But kisses weren't that big a deal, right? _I mean_ he thought, _I've kissed other members of the crew before… like that one time where Luffy was sleep walking and thought I was meat, so he started biting my face… I woke up to find his mouth right on mine, trying to suck my face off… talk about a rude awakening. Then there was that time that the shitty cook _almost_ kissed me… dear lord, _that_ was a traumatic experience if I ever had one… Well… ok fine I guess I haven't ever really kissed anyone else in the crew… but still! It's no big deal. We were both drunk, tired, and exhausted from her being friggin abducted after me being stabbed, and we obviously just weren't thinking clearly. We're adults, and _I _for one, have no problem with it. And that's it._

He nodded gruffly, pulled his shirt on, and left the room.

-------------

Nami wandered the streets of the town again for the second time in as many days, but with much less purpose. She was in a daze, lost in her own thoughts, and trying to make sense of everything that had happened the previous night. She hadn't been so drunk as to black out, but some of the events were slightly muddled. For instance, how had they gotten from alleyway to hotel room? She knew she had spoken with the desk clerk, but it seemed strangely disconnected from the two other events. There were, however, some instances that were clear as day in her mind. Her little emotional breakdown, for one. Even now she blushed to think she had let herself appear so emotionally vulnerable to the swordsman. He had been strangely kind about it though… _Now now, Nami, he isn't a bad person. He still has _something_ of a heart deep down in that bulging mass of muscled chest of his… _She felt heat rising to her face as she smiled at the memory of being held against that chest those many times last night for one reason or another… especially the last time, after he had taken off his shirt… who would've guessed that hands could be so soothing? She giggled. After having a chance to really think about it, she had decided that she had actually rather enjoyed the kiss, despite the slight awkwardness it had caused that morning. It was too bad they didn't get any farther. _Oh well. Another time perhaps._ She giggled again.

A familiar snapping sound and a yell brought her back to reality. And suddenly, Luffy had crashed into a pile of crates next to her. He stood up from the rubble, dusting himself off and laughing.

"Ah, hiya Nami! What's up?"

Sanji was suddenly beside him, one foot kicking the boy's head repeatedly. Luffy didn't act like he noticed, and Sanji began berating him loudly for doing something so dangerous near Nami where she could get hurt. Luffy didn't pay attention to this either.

"Oh yeah, Nami, we saw Chopper and he said Zoro had been hurt! It didn't sound serious though, nothing Zoro can't handle. You ok? How much longer til we can leave? I wanna find an Adventure with a cattle A!!!"

"Oi, idiot, stop asking Nami so many questions! And it's CAPITAL A, not "cattle A!" Damn bottomless pit, your mind is on food so much you even think about the source!" Turning to Nami, Sanji began his usual display. "Oh, Miss Nami, you're looking as radiant as ever! Did you sleep well? I heard you had to share a room with that shitty algae-headed bastard, he didn't do anything vulgar in nature to you did he? I totally understand if he did, that asshole has no manners whatsoever, but do not fear, I will make sure he doesn't do it again. Is there anything you need? Would you like me to accompany you on a shopping expedition to help you carry your bags?" He grinned charmingly at her, leaning on Luffy's head with protests spouting from the younger boy. Nami sighed.

"One question at a time boys!" she yelled with a solid thump of fists on the heads of the pair. ("Ah, Miss Nami, you are a vision of beauty when you give orders,") "Luffy, we still have to stay for a few days. Go explore some more with Usopp or something. There's a good restaurant in the north of town. I hear they're especially famous for their mea-" No sooner had she gotten the words out, Luffy had zoomed off with a very confused, very frightened Usopp in tow (he had happened to walk by at that exact moment). Sanji sighed, shaking his head at the cloud of dust that was left. He then turned back to Nami with a smile.

"Ah, Miss Nami, I see how you distracted Luffy so that we could be alone, and I must confess tha-" Nami side-stepped the attempted kiss with practiced ease. "Oh Miss Nami! You are as quick and clever as you ever were, and grow even more so with each passing day! Please, tell me anything you need and I shall supply it beyond my own personal limitations!" he cooed up at her from the ground.

Nami suddenly remembered Zoro's words. This reminded her of her little breakdown last night, causing her to blush with embarrassment at the memory. "Uh, Sanji, I just wanted to know if you had gotten the supplies that we needed yet. In addition to the food, we need rope, wood, gunpowder, and a couple more barrels of cola…" She looked away from the cook, praying he wouldn't notice her sudden change in demeanor. Then she noticed Robin walking by and gave silent thanks to whatever gods were looking out for her today. "Ah! I was also going to ask you to find Robin, but here she is! Alright Sanji, I will see you later! Robin and I are going to have a girl's day today!" Sanji seemed to have fallen in love with the idea of a 'girl's day,' but he nodded and let her run after Robin, who turned and smiled at the younger girl as she shouted her name happily, secretly relieved.

---------

Sanji smiled, happy that Nami was happy. But still, he was concerned. Zoro had been injured, and they had been together last night. What had happened? He was dying to know if Nami was as ok as she tried to appear, because he could detect a hint of something underlying her beautiful smile. Sadness? Regret? Shame? Whatever it was, he hoped it could be quickly dealt with and erased, for it hurt him to see Nami suffer. To Sanji, Nami was the perfect balance of beauty and ferocity, grace and strength. Even if he never admitted it to anyone else (such was a thing a gentleman NEVER did), he was well-aware of her faults. Her love of money, her oftentimes harsh attitude towards the men of the crew. But still, Sanji cared for her. He smiled again. _After all, only in the imperfections of the teacup can it truly become perfect_. Without her faults, Nami would not be the beautiful person she was. Robin too. The two women of the crew, to have suffered so much. They did have more in common than first seen, after all. Such suffering, an insincere betrayal. Difficult pasts, but bright futures. And both still able to smile so warmly. Sanji still marveled at the emotional strength of such beautiful, frail-looking creatures. _There's something that men don't have. What man can accept all those emotions and carry them as those two have? Without denying a single one? Truly, women are miracles._

He sighed, taking a long drag from his cigarette, then turned and walked down the street.

----------

The pair walked arm in arm, occasionally stopping in shops and generally just chatting about various things. It was moments like this that made Nami so grateful to have another woman on the crew. But suddenly she saw it again. The same shop she had run from in tears the day before.

"Ah, Miss Navigator, shall we go into this shop? It seems like the type of shop you would enjoy," said Robin, smiling. The smile quickly vanished when she saw the expression on her companion's face. "Miss Navigator? Is… something wrong?" Robin looked back at the store. Realization dawned on her face when she saw the shopkeeper speaking to a customer through the window. She smiled again, her eyes sad. _Ah… I see…_

Suddenly, Robin found herself in the small alley to the side of the shop, pinned to the wall with Nami grasping both of her arms, breathing heavily. (A/N: wtf? When did this become a yuri fic?)

"Robin." Her voice was desperate. "I need a favor."

"Of course, Miss Navigator, what is it?"

Nami swallowed nervously. "I need… you to pretend that… you're the navigator… and… ask him what's wrong with the log pose…" Her face was bright red with shame. "A-after yesterday… I can't go back there and ask him myself…"

Robin smiled gently at the girl. "Of course I will, Miss Navigator. It is no trouble." The relief on Nami's face made the older woman want to cry. Taking her hand, Robin removed the log pose from her wrist and placed it on her own. "Now," she grinned encouragingly at the orange-haired girl. "Shall we find out what is causing the problem with the log pose?"

Nami swallowed again and nodded, trying to force her face into a quivering, brave smile. Despite her efforts, however, her anxiety was still apparent in her warm brown eyes. Robin laughed gently and led her into the shop.

The air in the shop was musty, and Robin's heart skipped a beat when she took a breath. She paused, closing her eyes, and breathed in deeply. She knew this smell. This was the smell of old parchment and faded ink, of dust stirred up from items that have been disturbed after longs years of hiberntion. This was the smell of ancient secrets hidden within pages and letters. The smell of history. Robin's breathing became shallow with excitement. She would have to stay behind after she had finished helping Nami. There were secrets to be discovered in this shop.

She was pulled back to reality when the ray-man noticed the pair and greeted them enthusiastically, especially Nami. Robin felt her stiffen as he addressed her and she gave her friend's hand an encouraging squeeze.

"Yes, sir, we are in need of some assistance. You see, my cousin here is interested in the nature of the Grand Line, and so I am teaching her all I know. However, while I have lived on this island all my life, I never fully understood why logs react the way they do to this island. Perhaps you could explain it to me?" she smiled engagingly at the fishman.

"Ooooh, yes yes yes. It's all quite simple really, it has to do with _magnet fields_," the merman explained. "Here, come back here and I'll show you." He motioned for them to follow him beyond a curtain leading to the back room of the shop, where a strange construction that looked something like a furnace was set up, along with another that actually was a furnace and a worktable with various tools strewn across it. Glass-blowing pipes of various sizes were lined up against the wall, and large boxes of what Robin could only assume were raw materials stood stacked in a corner. Nami was hesitant to enter the room at first, but seeing the weird arrangement of the room piqued her curiosity and it quickly got the better of her, so she followed Robin closely.

The ray-man's explanation was fascinating. He told them of the large magnetized iron deposits located on the ocean floor surrounding the island, which interfered with the magnet within the log pose that made it point the way to the next island. This could easily be prevented by keeping the log within a box composed of lead and sea stone in alternating layers, but most ships did not know of the deposits and would sail over them without such precautions, and this could lead to disaster. For this reason, visitors to the island were rare, as only the most skilled of navigators were able to make it far enough through the magnetic fields to arrive at the island. Most times, the ship was lost, but sometimes it would be lucky enough to come out the other side of the extensive fields, which usually performed the opposite interference on the log and therefore causing it to act normally once again. When this happened, the log was not needed to arrive in port safely because the next island was so close to that area that it could be seen in the distance. Throughout his explanation, the ray-man demonstrated using another log and two very large magnets, holding the log over one for a while until it started to move back and forth like the one on Robin's wrist, then transferring it to the other magnet until the shaking stopped. Nami paid close attention to everything the shopkeeper said, taking mental notes. When he was finished however, her curiosity once again got the better of her and she could not help asking about the strange items around the room. He grinned with pride and told her that the instruments were all involved in the construction of logs. Grin widening at her wide eyes, he offered to show her how he made them. She accepted without a second thought. Her gaze on the ray-man's actions didn't falter when Robin touched her shoulder and told her softly that she would be in the front of the store, looking around. She simply nodded, wide eyes focused on the golden orb now growing out of the end of the glass-blowing pipe. Robin smiled and stepped out of the room.

When the time came to leave the store, Nami was in such good spirits she didn't even take the few small items she had pocketed upon entering. Together she and Robin had bought four books, a new log, a LogKeeper (one of the boxes constructed to protect the log from the shifting magnetic fields), some parchment, a new quill, bottles of no run ink in various colors, and a number of old maps. Among the maps the two had chosen to buy was one that Nami kept hidden from Robin; she had found it rifling through a pile of particularly dated maps, and she bought it, deciding to present it to Robin later as a gift of gratitude for her help. After purchasing a light supper, the two parted ways, Nami deciding to simply go back to the hotel she had stayed at the night before and Robin returning to sleep on the boat. Nami waved goodbye to her friend, and once out of sight she pulled out the map that was to be Robin's gift and studied it, tracing one of the islands drawn on it with her finger and staring at the name next to it. With this, perhaps Robin would tell her some happy memories of her hometown. Nami smiled, happy to have the soft-spoken woman as a companion on their adventures. Humming contentedly, she turned and headed down the street to the hotel.

------------

Neither one of them was pleased, to say the least, when Nami walked in on a half-naked Zoro receiving another bout of Chopper's ministrations. They stared at each other, shocked, annoyed, and completely silent as the tiny doctor finished his work as quickly as possible, trying to escape the dangerous aura encircling the pair as fast he could. The door had scarely clicked shut when they were at each other's throats.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Zoro demanded accusingly.

"What am _I_ doing here? This is _my_ room!" Nami retorted, more than slightly peeved.

"_Your_ room?" Zoro's annoyance was threatening to cross the line to full-fledged anger.

"Yes, _my_ room! I paid for it! You want to stay here, you have—"

"Oh, don't you dare start that crap with me, woman! You are always looking for any excuse to increase my debt, knowing full well I can't pay it!"

"You know what? Fine," seethed the orange-haired girl, her glare icy cold. "Don't get used to it."

"Like you would let me, psycho bitch!" he jabbed back.

"You wanna stay here or not?!" She received a snort and his back for an answer as he laid down on the floor, facing the wall. Rolling her eyes, she leaned against the door, rather put out. Zoro had completely ruined her good mood. Nami sighed. There was no helping it now. Nothing would expel him from the room now. The navigator started to unpack, lost in thought.

Only when she caught another glimpse of the swordsman lying there, shirtless, did she pause to consider him again. Seeing him so reminded her of the previous night, and this made her blush and quickly look away, continuing to organize her things once again. Still, her mind drifted back to the sudden rush of head she had felt when he had kissed her, even despite the rare gentleness he had displayed. This naturally lead her to wondering how much more intense that heat would be were he to not be so gentle, the idea of which got her so flustered that she fumbled, dropping a bottle of ink and a stack of parchment in the process. She cursed silently, attempting to scramble for the papers while simultaneously trying to jump away from the splatter of ink on the floor. While she remained ink-free, the action caused her to almost loose her balance completely. Supporting herself with a hand on the wall, she attempted to recollect her thoughts and get her breathing under control, cursing the slight rise of temperature she could feel in her cheeks. Suddenly, a small laugh from across the room got her attention. Zoro had turned to look over his shoulder at the noise and was now grinning smugly. Their eyes met. Nami instantly regretted this, feeling herself turn even pinker. She swallowed and quickly looked away.

Zoro had looked over when he heard her squeak and saw her strange hop-dance-trip sort of thing that was her attempt to escape the splatter of ink while still trying to catch the papers raining down around her like autumn leaves. The sight was so amusing that he couldn't help but give a small chuckle at how ridiculous she looked. This undoubtedly attracted her attention, and, much to his chagrin, when the two made eye contact, her face, already pink, turned bright red.

_You've got to be kidding me,_ he thought, annoyed by what he could only guess was the source of her blush. _Get over it already!_ Continuing to watch her as she looked around at the mess she had made, his eyes narrowed, exasperated.

"Um… Zoro?" It came softly, cautiously.

Zoro slammed his fist on the floor and sat up, glaring at the girl. "Dammit, woman, just let it go already!"

Her eyes widened, confused. "What—?"

"Yes, I kissed you! Whatever! We were tired and drunk, and it didn't mean anything, so just _let it go!!_"

Nami gaped at him for a moment, furious, then her open mouth transformed quickly ito a snarl. "Excuse _me_, but I was going to ask you if you would be so kind as to perhaps get me a towel or something to clean this up with, I wasn't even going to _mention_ that, but now that you have, maybe we _should_ discuss it! What kind of an excuse is that, 'you were drunk?' Can you not hold your alcohol anymore? Or are you just unable to take responsibility for your actions, hm, Mr. Great Swordsman? Do you really have that little self-control?"

That did it.

Zoro thought nothing. The only presence in his mind was that of red anger, frustration, and general annoyance, all directed at this… this _woman_.

In a flash, he was across the room, his hands slammed against the wall, with a wide-eyed, staring Nami trapped, back against the wall, within the cage created by his arms. He leane in close to her, breathing hot anger onto her face.

"I," he seethed, voice dangerously quiet, "have _complete_ control over my actions."

Nami stared for a moment, then her eyes narrowed, the shock in them transforming into set defiance. "So you _meant_ to kiss me." It was a question within a statement, but even more than that, it was a declaration of victory.

His eyes narrowed. Neither of them moved as seconds crawled by. Nami was about to confirm her victory when he suddenly closed the short distance between their faces, furiously pressing his lips to hers. She stood there, back against the wall, with him leaning against the wall on his forearms, letting him kiss her. Only their lips met. And still she stood, an incoherent string of babble running through her mind as that same heat swiftly began filling her body yet again. She had gained just enough clarity of mind to move to return this kiss when he pulled away. He glared at her, sharp green eyes searching clear brown, challenging her, waiting to see how she would react.

He almost choked on his tongue when that reaction was a scoff and a furious "stupid man!" There was no time for this, however, as she immediately grabbed his jaw and smashed her lips onto his, pulling herself to him and breathing in deeply. Zoro was so caught off-guard that he almost fell over, but caught himself in time before the pair ended up on the floor. Matching her ferocity, he grabbed her waist and pulled her tightly against him, making her breath hitch as he returned the kiss as powerfully as he had moments before. Her breathing became progressively more shallow as the heat welling within her quickened her heartbeat and sent a chill down her back. They pressed into each other, trying to get as much contact between them, when, almost simultaneously, hands started running through hair, pulling at clothes, and rubbing neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, and back. Nami's knees almost gave way when he pulled away from her, moving to her neck, sucking and biting the white skin. It was all she could do to clutch his shoulders and close her eyes, gasping.

He pulled away again, now seriously working at her shirt. She helped, giving him short, fierce kisses as she pulled the tank over her head and discarded it on the floor, tugging insistently at his haramaki. He obliged, pulling it off, as she clung to him, drawing a line of hot kisses down his neck to his chest, sucking at the long scar that cut across the length of his torso. When this didn't elicit a satisfactory response, she bit fiercely on the scar at a spot directly below his left collarbone. At this, he emitted a sound that somewhere between a grunt and a gasp. She didn't have long to gloat over this, nor a chance to try it again, because he pulled her back up to smash his lips to hers once more.

Tired of standing, Nami moved backwards, steering them to reach the bed in the corner, not breaking contact between them but holding the back of his neck tightly so that he had little choice but to follow. When she felt the bed hit the back of her legs, she reahed back the one hand and sat down, forcing him to climb onto the bed, straddling her. Finally, she laid back, pulling him down with her.

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**Whoo! Hehehehe… you guys knew it was coming! And you all thought they were gonna be drunk! Shaaaaame on you! Hee.**

**So, I definitely got a nosebleed writing that last part, but be gentle in your reviews! That was my first time writing something like that! [cough]**

**Well, if I was gonna have sex with a sexy green-haired swordsman, that's how I would wanna do it! Hee… X3**

**Til next time!**


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